Letters to the editor: Jan. 28

Daniels off the mark on MLK speech intro

Purdue President Mitch Daniels gave the introduction for Melissa Harris-Perry, who was the keynote speaker for the Martin Luther King Commemorative Lecture at Purdue.

Harris-Perry was brilliantly nuanced, humorous and wise. Mitch was not nuanced, humorous or wise. Mitch recited King's famous quote about being judged by character not by the color of your skin. Mitch proceeded to offer John Wooden and Winston Churchill as further examples of character.

Wooden is the father of uber-aggressive Indiana basketball, which specializes in ref baiting, flopping and undercutting people going for layups. Why not speak of Congressman John Lewis, who was beaten to an inch of his life advocating for voting rights?

Churchill was a man of courage, but not a temperate man on racial matters. Why not speak of Medgar Evers? Evers, an American of rare character, was murdered by a white supremacist while advocating against segregation at the University of Mississippi.

I really resented Mitch's concluding statement that said there will not be any future Kings among the audience, who had gathered to hear Harris-Perry. As a retired professor of Purdue University, I have been privileged to know young people who are as capable of leadership and grace as King.

We need a college president who knows how to lead and inspire, not somebody who is going to put down our multi-ethnic students. My advice to Mitch: Hire a public relations person who knows American history to clean up your ignorant, condescending, white man rhetoric.

Cindelyn Eberts

Lafayette

Punishing servicemen isn't the answer here

I was dismayed when I read the story about the Marines that urinated on the dead bodies of the insurgents - not because of the fact they did it but because of the condemnation of their act by their superiors and others.

Maybe they had 9/11 in mind, with the thousands of innocents killed. Or maybe they were remembering all the atrocities that had been done to their comrades. Also comes to mind the lopping off heads of innocents. Then there is the case of the schoolgirl who dared to speak out about the treatment of women in that part of the world. Her reward was to be shot and seriously wounded and never to come home again without the fear of being hunted down and killed.

The Marines might have also been fed up with trying to defend themselves against an enemy that wears no uniform, so as to be readily identified. They might also be fed up with U.S. policy of trying to fight a war with no apparent purpose or any sight of an end. Then there is the fact that our government is bending over backward to appease a people that despises and hates us because their religion dictates that they should.

A lot of things to consider here, and punishing our soldiers for a small indiscretion is not one of them.